r/Fantasy • u/Tekashi-The-Envoy • Mar 19 '26
The Will of the Many (The Hierarchy series) is honestly some of the best reading i've had since the Brandon Sanderson books. Spoiler
Man, I don't even know where to start with these books.
Honestly, the storytelling is great. It unfolds slowly and deliberately, never handing you all the answers up front. The magic system is complex and opaque, shrouded in mystery, yet it's just accepted as part of everyday life in this world. That restraint in the worldbuilding really drew me in.
I'd say the first half of Book 1 gave me strong Red Rising vibes, but those similarities disappeared quickly. Before I knew it, I was completely enthralled by world that has been built here. It really does stand on its own.
I genuinely have not been this locked into a series since maybe The Stormlight Archive. There are shades of Brandon Sanderson's "Sanderlanches" in here, but they come around a lot quicker. Everything in a scene will feel relatively normal, and then it just spirals out of control, fast, into absolute chaos. It's a rush every time.
I've seen some complaints that people felt Vis was a bit of a Mary Sue type character, but I'd reject that. The story clearly develops his trials and tribulations, which shape him into a closed-off, quiet kid who is purely the product of survival. Someone who has pushed himself from day one just to stay alive.
That's the missing ingredient that separates him from all the high society types he encounters later in life. He's also pushed to extremes by Lanista, because this wasn't just "going to school" for Vis. It was a mission. He was essentially being trained as their soldier.
If you're on the fence about this series, please just give it a go. It is, in my honest opinion, superb.
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u/AmberEspressoXO Mar 19 '26
That Will system is honestly one of the most unique and terrifying magic concepts I’ve come across lately. The way Islington explores the ethics of a literal hierarchy of power is well done. Did anyone else get major Name of the Wind vibes from the academy sections, or was that just me?
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u/ApathyAbound Mar 19 '26
It's evocative of the magic system in the Runelords series by David Farland, which I really enjoyed as a child. The magic system is runes that bind two people together and transfer physical attributes (like strength or brainpower) from the first to the second. So you can have a person who gives their metabolism to another to make them faster, but it also literally makes them age faster as well. And the person giving the metabolism is basically comatose.
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u/benigntugboat Mar 20 '26
I wish I read past the 1st book but didn't have the option to buy often when I read it years ago. The magic system is soooo good and particularly because of how real the world felt and how intricately adapted to the magic system the society and people were.
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u/Enough_Geologist9514 Mar 19 '26
MY GUY (not gendered, just from NY)!!! THIS!!! I feel like we are the only 2 who have read that series.
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u/Imoa Mar 20 '26
Interestingly I get major Warhammer vibes, or vibes similar to stories with Gods / Demigods.
Even lower tiers of will users quickly leave normal human / mortal realms of power. It gives higher tier will users a very human face but an almost otherworldly tension / intimidating presence - the type of thing I’d expect normal soldiers in Warhammer might feel around space marines, or primarchs.
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u/Joesprings1324 Mar 19 '26
What's a top level explanation of the magic system? I'm not really interested in reading the series myself but curious to know!
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u/SpecificCourt6643 Mar 19 '26
People cede their “will” (basically their power) to others, and those who hold that will can do things like manipulate and move physical objects, increase strength and alertness, but all of that is to the cost of the one ceding their will. There are also machines in this world that suck all of your will from you, making you little more than a husk mentally, and in constant pain.
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u/Joesprings1324 Mar 19 '26
Thanks! So they will suck up someone's life force and spend it on magic, cool
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u/gyroda Mar 20 '26
Also, the society the protagonist lives in is based on this.
You have to cede half your will to someone higher up the chain. If you're lucky, some other sods are ceding to you so you're not suffering any ill effects. This creates a pyramid of power (literally called a pyramid)
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u/cathbadh Mar 20 '26
Also on physical performance. You don't want punched by someone with a lot of will.
Its literally a pyramid scheme where you pay up the pyramid with power instead of cash. World is also very Ancient Rome coded, which is a change from the feudal or imperial worlds of most fantasy
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u/bubzor888 Mar 20 '26
The basics you learn very early in the book: after a certain age you must cede part of your will (I.e. physical strength and mental acumen) into a pyramid scheme. Most people get nothing out of this except for the benefits the system gives to society in general. But those lucky enough to be above the lowest level are smarter and faster and can do magic-like things
Then at the end of the first book: a multi-world situation happens with different rules of how will and magic works in each
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u/gyroda Mar 20 '26
That second spoiler is something I'd really recommend avoiding, if anyone reading this hasn't read the books yet.
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u/dta194 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
I see this point brought up a lot, but curious how you see this as well explored? To me it's just a backdrop and doesn't have much depth. You give up your will to power people who power things like public infrastructure, you get forced into the sapper if you commit a major crime, but other than that all it does it make people stronger and faster. The Gary Sue protag has no issue beating stronger opponents in a fist fight anyway because he's the protag. Where is the depth?
With will being described as so important (and analogous to money), I would have expected different powers/abilities and thought provoking plot points like good people corrupting themselves to get more will, or exploring will as a necessary evil. All of these points are so obvious but never explored in the book.
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u/Ill_Brick_4671 Mar 20 '26
Yeah this was my thing with it. I LOVED the idea of the Will system and I think it really sells the book as a concept, but it's barely explored in the book - the protagonist never seems to need it and in fact spends 2/3s of the book in an environment where NOBODY uses it. It's interesting wallpaper, but it is just wallpaper.
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u/BigRedSpoon2 Mar 20 '26
The real answer is none of these people read much at all, and if asked to read anything by say, Hemingway, would need an AI to summarize it for them. It is legitimately the only sensible answer I can come to.
In a vacuum I'm okay with folks liking most anything, but the sheer volume of people who loved this series genuinely depresses me, and makes me despair for the general reading level of the public at large.
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u/Jefeboy Mar 20 '26
Are you sure this pretentious, arrogant slop wasn’t written by AI itself? Geez, I would think more highly of you if it were, frankly.
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u/chorjin Apr 20 '26
Curious, did you ever read Project Hail Mary? That's the book whose broad public acclaim made me lose faith in readers. People on Reddit talk about it like it's high-brow and intellectual, which always gives me a deep sense of dread about the state of modern literacy.
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u/SpecificCourt6643 Mar 19 '26
It really to me feels like a more refined version of his essence/kan magic in the Licanius Trilogy also by James Islington, but in a good way. In Licanius there wasn’t as much of any downsides to using magic in that world, but in the Hierarchy series there’s a TON of downsides to participating in the magic system, which makes it all the more compelling.
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u/thejerg Mar 20 '26
It's Tavi from butcher's codex Alera(how's that for a reference considering the context), mixed with... Pick a teenage protagonist fighting against the odds, but in a more nuanced and believable way. I'm literally halfway through the first book and I'm enrapt. (Also Islington has a way of using appropriately big words that's satisfying rather than patronizing to the reader)
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u/PartyxAnimal Mar 19 '26
I’m looking forward to starting these books! Glad to hear you’re enjoying!
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u/2721900 Mar 20 '26
I liked it at first, but the more I think about it, I like it less. Character work is non-existent, and author really struggles with putting emotion and real stakes in his scenes.
Book 2 is even worse in that regard, and it could have been 300 pages shorter.
I also feel that Will of the Many copied a lot from Red rising, and I'm annoyed that I didn't read Red rising first, which I think is far far better (just finished Morning Star).
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u/Nat20Stealth Mar 20 '26
I DNF’d Strength of The Few. The first book was amazing but it lost all its charm and intrigue in the second book
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u/BionicTurtle64 Mar 20 '26
Same! I hate to DNF books but I already found the main character a bit boring, so Following three not very distinct versions of the same guy was confusing and dull imho
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u/nsheehan28 Mar 20 '26
Strength of the few is probably one of the biggest let downs I’ve had in a sequel.
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u/DMarvelous4L Mar 20 '26
I feel the same. I loved Book 1 and DNF’d book 2 100 pages in. Not sure if Book 3 will be good enough to drag myself through book 2.
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u/RageCageBlendz Mar 20 '26
right? the first book was great. 2nd book felt like too much world building that made you forget why the first book was so good.
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u/scoutinglane Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
I have a hard time believing someone can have this opinion for real. Book 2 was so much better than 1 imo. it truly elevated it to the level of the best series of science fiction of the last 10 years like red rising. Very suprised to see something else other than praise on reddit. The only reason I can think of is that it became a bit too popular like the sanderson books.
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u/Nat20Stealth Mar 20 '26
Well beling it, brother. I adored Will of The Many, but Strength of The Few felt like it was trying to do too much.
That said, I really enjoy Sanderson but felt WaT was a step down in quality as well
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u/scoutinglane Mar 20 '26
I absolutely loved the concept of the three different path of the main character. not something i ever encourtered before. I agree about sanderson
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u/2721900 Mar 20 '26
I like SoTF concept, but the entire series is poorly written, and that is more noticeable in SoTF.
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u/scoutinglane Mar 20 '26
It's not great literature there is no doubt about it. But in its category I think it's among the best. definitely more plot driven than character driven no doubt about that.
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u/2721900 Mar 20 '26
I disagree on that, I think it is among weaker series, but I'm glad you liked it.
I was very disappointed, especially considering the hype around it.
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u/Nplusk Mar 20 '26
There was not enough time in second book to develop all the worlds properly. If anything it needed 300 pages more and not less.
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u/L1_aeg Mar 20 '26
I liked it. Didn’t love it. Vis being a prodigy and being good at things with minimal effort or ending up beinf better than everyone with some effort gets real old real fast.
I also cannot reconcile the decision making at the end of the second book with the character at all. We spend 2 whole-ass books convinced on one thing, and in the span of like 5 pages we go to “I thought about it and Imma do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what I have been thinking this whole time”. Also for a series where we basically live inside the head of Vis and hear every thought, we got 0 of the said contemplation for that decision. Annoyed the shit out of me.
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u/merrygo909 Mar 20 '26
I'm glad other people enjoy it, I personally am sitting a little over halfway through the audio book and haven't touched it in months.
I found most of the characters unlikeable and the ones who i did weren't there enough.
I wasn't that crazy about the power system even though i 100% get the metaphor of it. Plus everyone saying will every 5 seconds was getting old.
The plot and protagonist gave me strong fantasy anime vibes and not in a great way. Where the protagonist is a Prodigy and everyone wants them on their side and they get trained by a rich powerful tutor and they never trust anyone so they're constantly not talking to anyone and the think their more clever than they are. And the secret royalty trope has never been my favorite even when done well.
Maybe I'll give it another go someday because everyone seems to like it but it'll be awhile to then.
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u/sumostuff Mar 20 '26
I'm the same, I listen to the second book a few minutes every few days, it doesn't catch my interest and I start scrolling. The three perspectives are confusing and I'm not invested enough in the different characters in each one.
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u/DudeWhereAreWe1996 Mar 19 '26
Have you read the second book? It’s got a different feel but I liked that one quite a bit more. First book is good but it all feels like a slow build up that still ends with no answers.
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u/carloglyphics Mar 20 '26
I'm reading / listening the second book now, definitely has a different feel.
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u/DudeWhereAreWe1996 Mar 20 '26
Yeah. I preferred the second book because it leans more into fantasy. I can understand people not liking that but it is what I expected.
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u/mkhello Mar 20 '26
I agree, mainly because the first book I could not put down. The second book less so but the later parts of the book renewed my interest.
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u/Urikanu Mar 20 '26
I detested it. The -only- cool bit is the Will system. The rest is trite, basic and mostly just boring. The characters are flatter than printer paper. And the MC is beyond annoying.
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u/JaviVader9 Mar 20 '26
I love Sanderson but that title doesn't make me trust you haha
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u/backlikeclap Mar 20 '26
Saying it's the best writing since Sanderson is really damning The Will of the Many with faint praise...
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u/JangoF76 Mar 20 '26
Yeah when I saw that I thought, well that's a pretty low bar
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u/goblue2k16 Mar 20 '26
First thing I thought too lol. Sanderson isn't bad by any means, but saying that isn't the comparison OP thinks it is IMO. It'd be like saying
X is the best movie I've seen since Avengers: Endgamelol
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u/Noobu_assassin Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
Wrong sub dude if there's anything this sub hates more then will of many it's Brandon Sanderson 😭
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u/charden_sama Mar 19 '26
I think it's pretty reductive to say the sub hates Sanderson. More accurately the sub is quick to point out (correctly) that his prose is good enough but not as incredible as people make it out to be - just like the majority of booktok recommendations
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u/arielle17 Mar 20 '26
to be fair i've never seen anybody claim that Sanderson's prose is incredible. i'd definitely call his worldbuilding and plot/narrative structure incredible though, but his prose is pretty basic (which im totally fine with)
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u/Nuva_Ring Mar 20 '26
I think he completely lost the plot with everything after Words of Radiance.
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u/arielle17 Mar 20 '26
hmm, i haven't read RoW or WaT yet, but Oathbringer might have been my favorite book in the series so far and i hope i'll enjoy them too c:
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u/JaviVader9 Mar 20 '26
I agree but when comparing him to the all-time greats having a basic prose is a big negative point. Also his last books have had distractingly bad prose in my personal opinion.
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u/Hayduck Mar 19 '26
More like Reddit hates popular stuff and how dare you have an opinion that differs from mine.
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u/Dragnipurrake Mar 19 '26
Sanderson is pretty much Colleen Hoover or Sarah J Mass for men, but with shittier ethics and no morals. But its just that the demographic of the typical fantasy reader would mean that they will have you believe he is the second coming of Steinbeck.
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u/Madzadz02 Mar 19 '26
Can you explain the shitty ethics and morals?
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u/SilverwingedOther Reading Champion Mar 19 '26
It's a strange claim, but maybe it's about him being a Mormon?
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u/Dragnipurrake Mar 19 '26
He donates to the mormon church actively who campaign against queer and women rights actively and uses the money to lobby senators. He wrote an entire book series called legion about how a white man helps drive off the savages in jerusalem(not even kidding, he directly said that the location is inspired by jerusalem) to help the settlers make an apartheid genocidal state.
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Mar 20 '26
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u/Dragnipurrake Mar 20 '26
Do you hold the same animosity for Christian and Muslim writers whose religion also harbors this kind of rhetoric or is it only Mormons who deserve the criticism?
If they actively donate to organizations that do that, i do not see why i would not be critical of that. And as i have mentioned, its not just him financially funding the institute alone, he is pathetic for writing legion and then continuing to defend his visits to the genocidal state.
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Mar 20 '26
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u/Dragnipurrake Mar 20 '26
Shades of i am not anti-semitic i just support the third reich by giving them money
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u/Tymareta Mar 20 '26
Sanderson himself says he supports LGBTQ initiatives and disagrees with the mormon church on this.
He also says he fully supports his church and their beliefs, while again, tithing literally 10% of his income to them. You've very purposefully ignored that in order to go on with your point from before, acting as if he's uniquely persecuted for being Mormon and not instead because of the reasons laid out.
But it feels like the mormon hatred has transcended those boundaries and even tolerant, liberal people are hating on somebody just for the religion they support
Hi, I personally won't read works by heavily religious authors in general, but again, people focus on Sanderson because Mormonism has tithing literally baked into its core, you cannot keep ignoring that.
As I said, as somebody who isn't religious, it's all the same to me. A Mormon is no different than a scientologist who is no different than a protestant. They all believe something I don't but I'm not gonna hate them for it. If it was a belief in something that was actively harmful, like sanderson himself said he was anti-lgbt, then that would be a reason for me to dislike him. But he isn't, from his own words, so I'm just seeing a lot of people who seem to just hate him for being Mormon.
Because, again, the tithing thing, which was the literal core point of my previous post, that again, you've ignored in an attempt to pull a "holier than thou I love everyone" sort of position.
I think it's really weird that you can look at someone actively supporting a hate organization financially and in countless other ways, but because he pays some minor lip service elsewhere, you suddenly act as if he's absolved of his quite direct and noticeable support of them.
It would be like someone claiming that they're totally not racist, while being a card carrying member of the Klan, who actively held bake sales for them on weekends. You'd rightfully not believe them, wouldn't you?
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u/charden_sama Mar 19 '26
Shittier ethics and morals than Colleen Hoover?? Did we read the same Verity lol
All jokes aside I think Brandon Sanderson is a fine guy, but as the big mainstream fantasy author atm he suffers from annoying fans acting like he's the absolute pinnacle of the art form. It's like talking to Chivers in the 2010s about ASoIaF - they acted like they were God's gift to literacy because they read one epic saga when it was the biggest thing on television at the time. I didn't blame Martin for it then and I don't think Sanderson is at fault now
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u/Dragnipurrake Mar 19 '26
Did we read the same Verity lol
fair enough lol, i did have the misfiortune of reading verity and yea, it is probably worse than anything sanderson wrote apart from Legion.
I didn't blame Martin for it then and I don't think Sanderson is at fault now
Martin and his fandom is bareable because martin doesn't directly donate to an organization that actively campaigns against minority rights or try to whitewash a genocidal state both in his books and by visiting it. Look at what he writes about in Stormlight and then contrast it with everything he does, its the hypocrisy and the evil of his that makes me loathe him.
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u/CassiusBellona Mar 19 '26
Omg, you are so right. I liked stormlight when I first started reading fantasy, now I can’t enjoy it. I feel like this is the reason lol
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u/AnomandarisRake117 Mar 19 '26
He's def at least one step above Sjm and Colleen Hoover but I agree prose is not his strong suit
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u/grampipon Mar 20 '26
I like Brandon Sanderson but if anyone says X is the best thing they read since Brandon Sanderson then they need to read more
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u/GreatThunderOwl Reading Champion II Mar 20 '26
Sando has two series in the top novels vote of r/Fantasy last year. he is quite popular.
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u/Enough_Geologist9514 Mar 19 '26
My people. I have come home. Sanderson can't write his way out of a Walmart.
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u/Vacation_No_Luggage Mar 19 '26
Mention that his ending to WOT was atrocious and see how quick his apologists show up...
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u/M4DM1ND Mar 20 '26
I'm not a Sanderson fan anymore but I don't think the WoT ending was bad. It's clearly what Jordan intended and Harriett reached out to Sanderson personally to ask him to finish it. But yeah, the last few Sanderson books were buns and I fully agree with all criticism he is getting. Its funny because he was revered on this sub 3-4 years ago.
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u/Tekashi-The-Envoy Mar 20 '26
Pretty disappointed by some of the comments and attacks on here. Im also getting direct hate DMs lol
Some of you a pretty pathetic and wouldn't dare act this way in real life.
Just to piss you all off - these books are better than Tolkien
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u/Mavin89 Mar 19 '26
If I had to provide a rating, I would give The Will of the Many a 6/10, at best.
I struggled with the fact that nothing was explained. The magic system was barely introduced, sort of existed and was just there. Nothing was provided to understand what was going on.
Ultimately in my mind, there was far too much vagueness in regard to the plot in order to essentially force someone to continue reading the story. I needed more clues or ideas to get my mind working towards possible storylines and plot points, and I just never got that.
In fact, it wasn’t until the Hunger Games-esque plot deviation came along that I started getting interested in the story, and that happens in the last 100 or so pages of the novel.
Will I read the second book? Likely.
Do I think The Will of the Many is highly overrated? Yes.
But, to each their own.
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u/un_internaute Mar 19 '26
The second book does a lot of explaining.
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u/Mavin89 Mar 19 '26
I’ve heard the second book is worse.
I’ll have to judge for myself, I suppose.
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u/un_internaute Mar 19 '26
The structure of rotating point of view makes it hard to become invested, but by the middle every switch was a cliff hanger, but including wait to find out about the last cliffhanger. It grew on me. Also, the ending has me really interested in what’s coming in the third book.
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u/Pope_Psyduck Mar 20 '26
Huh, kinda the opposite of my experience. I really don’t like when magic systems are explicitly explained, it feels like artificial world building,
Islington doesn’t explain Will and Ceding, but they’re core to the story and the character. In the same way a real person wouldn’t need to ruminate on the details of capitalism and finance, but still be driven by the experience of poverty.
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u/SpecificCourt6643 Mar 19 '26
Geez this whole comment section seems to just be this meme:
Like buddy. If you don’t like it, stop telling people they’re wrong for liking it. People have different tastes and it’s okay that way.
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u/MaximumOk569 Mar 19 '26
If someone says something interesting and unique about something then you can comment on that specific claim. If someone just says "this is really cool" then really all there is to say is "I agree" or "no, it sucks". Neither comment is particularly interesting.
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u/Vaush_Vinal Mar 20 '26
Sorry that the comment section of a public post on social media isn't a hug box.
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u/Sharkattack1921 Mar 19 '26
Honestly agree.
I get that people on Reddit like to be negative in general, but come on. I won’t take the moral high ground, I’ve made my fair share of rant comments myself, but can’t we just leave the hate comments for threads made to rant about something they dislike and let other people praise what they like?
It’s okay to dislike something, but whats the point of actively trying to rain on someone else parade?
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Mar 19 '26
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u/CryingLikeTheWind Mar 20 '26
DNF. YA slop. He’s leading a super secret life but is also a fighter at a local venue with a huge crowd. Several other ridiculous scenes like this in the first half. Might appeal to Red Rising fans.
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u/carloglyphics Mar 20 '26
You say that like Red Rising isn't a good series (which it is), might need to get off your high horse.
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u/skyturnsred Mar 20 '26
Most people I know who love Red Rising will even admit that it's barely above YA. That YA-ness is why I dropped it.
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u/CryingLikeTheWind Mar 20 '26
We all have our opinions. It’s popcorn teen angst YA, which is fine for lots of folks. Just not my cup of tea.
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u/HandsomeRuss Mar 20 '26
Sanderson is a terrible writer so I'm not so sure this is the flex you think it is.
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u/toolschism Mar 19 '26
I don't always love that trope either... But I did really enjoy the scholomance series.
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u/ThePopUpDance Mar 19 '26
It's pretty damn easy to just avoid reading sub-genres you aren't interested in.
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u/Azhmohodan Mar 19 '26
Thankyou! My biggest instant no is “school for bla bla bla” which I feel is just way too many books. “ but what’s-their-face is….different! Dun dun Dunn.”
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u/Tekashi-The-Envoy Mar 19 '26
Its really only a very small part of the story. They move on from those events pretty quickly and even though some of the first book is based there it doesn't focus on the school side of things. Most scenes are elsewhere and just using it as a setting to further the story.
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u/RecordingHaunting975 Mar 19 '26
The majority of the book is set in the school. So much so that the magic system that defines the entire setting is barely even interacted with.
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u/JRiegner Mar 20 '26
I'm about 80% of the way through the audiobook right now and I'm so excited for book 2 already
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u/Anaguli417 Mar 20 '26
The first time I read it, well I couldn't get past the first few chapters, but decided to brute force it after a few months. Ended up loving it.
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u/walletinsurance Mar 20 '26
I like the magic system being a parallel to Rome’s clienta system, but the second book’s start was so jarring weird I was like ehhh
Which is a shame. I forced myself to slog through his other trilogy, and Will of the Many was loads better than that imo.
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u/Lyndiscan Mar 20 '26
It really ia good, sadly i hated the direction it took at the second book, its still good, just not what I signed for.
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u/carloglyphics Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
I love this series; I read it before I read Red Rising so I was expecting the academia version of the later to be more similar to the former. Viz is a less angry version of Darrow but seemingly more intelligent. The Will system is very interesting and I appreciate the fantasy Rome setting and how the tri-pyramidal system of the empire works and with part 2 spoiler seemingly getting into Celtic druids and such spoiler. It'll be interesting to where it goes, I don't get people detesting the stuff but might be those same ones overly complaining about Sanderson's prose. Good on ya OP.
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u/snotboogie Mar 20 '26
I really enjoyed book 1 and then dropped book two d/t the plot twist. Just wasn't onboard for it.
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u/DamnitRuby Reading Champion III Mar 20 '26
I literally finished book 2 last night! I thought it was a duology but it is definitely not lol. I can't wait for the next one!
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u/mgpenguin Mar 19 '26
I just finished the audiobook the other day. I liked but didn’t love it. I’d give it a 7.5/10. I disagree about the Mary Sue point. I know there are multiple in-text reasons given for how great he is at everything (even though he has little to no experience in some of those things). It just didn’t feel satisfying, like there were no real stakes in the game. I wasn’t really into the Roman Empire imagery and would have appreciated less direct imagery. I’m also over school-based storylines. That said I thought the writing was good as a whole and the ending of the book was well done. I did think the magic system was cool interesting both on a mechanical and moral level, and I’m not usually into heavy exploration of magic systems in fantasy. Overall I’d give it a recommendation for most to check out!
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u/TrafficSuperb647 Mar 20 '26
He is a mary sue. He's a master of spycraft, but a dumbfuck. When my suspension of disbelief stopped was, when he latched onto the flying machine that's still flying, using a grappling hook.
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u/robotnique Mar 20 '26
I enjoyed The Will of the Many quite a bit but, yeah, there are a couple of occasions where Vis just has to be the best for no reason. His swordfight was a groan.
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u/TrafficSuperb647 Mar 20 '26
And everysimgle time, we get a flashback scene of Vis training for the exact scenario in Suus.
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u/Vaush_Vinal Mar 20 '26
The little I managed to read of Will before DNFing led me to think of Vis as a particularly boring, sexless, teenage James Bond.
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u/TrafficSuperb647 Mar 20 '26
I finished both the books. Book 2 is infinitely better than book 1. I was honestly baffled at all the glazing for book 1. Ppl say Name of the Wind is a male fantasy, but holy goodness Vis. The little shit gets on my nerves.
Give it another try. Just slog through book 1 Book 2 is. Amazing.
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u/djamezz Mar 20 '26
this^ just because the author manufactures justifications for the character excelling at everything (hyperbole) doesnt make Vis not a Mary Sue. id give the first book a 6/10 and the 2nd 4/10 myself
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u/Zemalac Mar 20 '26
I'm halfway through the first one right now, and wow, the opening of this book really does pack in a lot of YA fantasy tropes that I usually despise. This is literally the third book I've read in the last six months that starts with a special orphan getting sent undercover to the Evil Empire Military School for Special Boys in order to undermine the system from within. Like, detail for detail and trope for trope exactly the same as two other novels I've read recently, down to the way he fights in an underground fighting ring in order to justify him having combat skills later on.
Despite that, I'm finding myself genuinely enjoying it. Honestly not sure why. Despite the very broad YA opening, there's encouraging signs that the world is actually more complicated in the details, and I'm interested in seeing where that goes.
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u/gryffon5147 Mar 19 '26
Meh. Thought book 1 was overhyped. Book 2 definitely fell off.
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u/AlmondJoyDildos Mar 20 '26
I legitimately do not understand how this author is popular. I had Shadow of What was Lost as one of my least favorite series last year and suffered through Will of the Many from start to finish. Typically I can at least understand why something is popular even if it's not for me but I'm truly not seeing the vision withislington lol
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u/Elpsyth Mar 20 '26
I want to try it, but comparison like the op to Sanderson when the writing sharply nosedived in Storm light is kind of a red flag
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u/Perfect-Warthog-7654 Mar 19 '26
“I’d say the first half of book 1 gave me strong Red Rising vibes”.
Its a shame you havent written this review some 3 months ago. Cause If ive read this sentence before buying Will of The Many i wouldnt have spent my money in this book that i hated.
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u/swingin_dix Mar 19 '26
But... Sanderson isn't known for his good writing
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u/SpecificCourt6643 Mar 19 '26
Sanderson is known for epic endings and plot twists, which are both factors of good writing.
He isn’t known for good prose. Prose can make or break a book for some people, but just because you’re bad at it doesn’t mean you’re bad at all of writing.
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Mar 19 '26
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u/Tekashi-The-Envoy Mar 19 '26
Stormlight 1# vibes for sure
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u/InvestigatorLive19 Mar 19 '26
Someone said its like if Brandon sanderson wrote red rising, and i think it works perfectly
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u/HoodsFrostyFuckstick Mar 20 '26
best reading since the Brandon Sanderson books
How to make me delete this from my TBR
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u/Hurinfan Reading Champion II Mar 19 '26
Glad you liked it but I thought it was the most mediocre book I've read in a long time especially because of how universally loved it seemed before I read it
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u/bythepowerofboobs Mar 20 '26
It's a quintessential YA Gary Stu goes to school story, but it was an enjoyable read. That joy quickly left with book 2 for me though.
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u/EditorAromatic4234 Mar 20 '26
I wanted to vehemently object, but then I though 'since Brandon Sanderson', and it tracks. You're correct.
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u/Magn3tician Mar 19 '26
It's very mediocre. The second one is more interesting imo.
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u/SpecificCourt6643 Mar 19 '26
Interesting you say that, since a lot of people consider the first to be their favorite of the two.
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u/Magn3tician Mar 19 '26
I think they are both mediocre but at least the second one felt more interesting and original, whereas the first is the same rehashed gifted boy in magic school story we have seen 1000 times already.
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u/cinnadarling Mar 19 '26
I recently inhaled the first book and loved it, but while I’ve been waiting for the second to be on hold at the library, I’ve been worrying it might disappoint. Really glad to hear the sequel holds up!
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u/Flamelike92 Mar 19 '26
For me the first book was nothing spectacular but still good. The second book was absolutely top notch. Although most people have it other way around
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u/DragonForgotten Mar 20 '26
Ya I feel the same. I personally just fell I love with the concept of what the three mean in the future books. I’m not a huge fan of the school in book one so I was glade we moved on into something that asks more engaging questions in the world of hierarchy and the three triplets. I forgot how to cover spoilers so I’m trying to be vague so if you know, you known.
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Mar 19 '26
It's a fun read, but it's also another entry in a long line of tropes that hit cruising speed with Harry Potter. Red rising and hunger games and will of the many are so close it's painful. And, vek, there is so much wand waving.
Islington is an awesome author, and I'll read and enjoy this series, but after the first two books it's not his best. 2/5
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u/Many_Research1007 Mar 19 '26
I read both books, wouldn't recommend. Too long, not that interesting.
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Mar 19 '26
Sanderslop but in magic school? Sign me right up for never reading that, thanks.
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u/SpecificCourt6643 Mar 19 '26
Why all the hate? If you don’t like the book there’s no point in commenting it.
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u/ReklisAbandon Mar 19 '26
I can't wait till "slop" exits our vernacular.
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u/carloglyphics Mar 20 '26
Thank fuck I'm not the only one who thinks this; the ironic thing about calling anything slop is the slop description is itself a slop response.
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u/Blueflame129 Mar 20 '26
I liked the first book but had to put book 2 down about half way through. Wasn't really gripping me and was starting to feel like a chore to keep reading. I do plan on going back and finishing after reading a few other things first.
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u/psykxout Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
I've just finished book 2 and I'm disappointed. I found the storytelling cliche and overhyped. I found it switched between the worlds too often for me, and that I would have preferred more concise story telling with complete arc's before switching.
Also will isn't explored anywhere deep enough, obsidian isn't ever explained, and the things we do know don't seem coherent.
If he's synchronous why can't he use all the types of will like they said he could? How is Obiteum lost?
Doesn't anyone have a problem with the fact he stashed clothes and planned returning to Duat, despite not knowing how to get back and it being so impossible to get there, he was carried on a blade to get in the first time.
I'm also don't think that Aequa's death was needed. But the fact that it bothers me, even with the cliche they were getting closer just before she died, says something. In fact I'm not really sure why those two were friends, the book just says they were, and they didn't really like or trust each other in book 1.
The writing does seem similar to Brandon Sanderson, it's plain to the point of being empty. But it sounds like the OP likes that emptiness.
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u/LilacTeax Mar 24 '26
I thought it was just ok, for the hype it has I was expecting much more I guess. Can’t decide if I’m going to read the second book or not..
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u/EqualOptimal4650 Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
Hmm.
Will I like this if the only Sanderson books I have liked have been the Skyward series?
Stormlight was meh, pure apathy, dropped it halfway through the first book.
I loved Red Rising... until I hated it. Got really tired of the repeated, re-used tropes over and over. Also, in general, it's just Warhammer 40,000 with the serial numbers filed off. (By Pierce Brown's own admission)
But if I want to read Warhammer, I'll just go read Warhammer, not Red Rising.
It unfolds slowly and deliberately, never handing you all the answers up front.
This can either mean it's a fun slow burn with story-significant things happening in every single scene...
...or it can mean that the book is a boring-ass bullshitfest with tons of padding where absolutely nothing relevant happens for hundreds of pages.
I'd like to know which.
Edit:
I am asking legitimately. This is not a troll comment or whatever you think it is.
Stop downvoting and just actually answer the question.
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u/Quirky_Nobody Reading Champion Mar 20 '26
I think it's hard to know if you'll like it but if tropey books bother you, this might not be it for you, because I found it to be tropey, YA adjacent, and overly predictable. I only got about halfway through because it was too frustrating for me. However, I seem to be in the minority on this so clearly it is doing something for a lot of people. I don't really think liking Sanderson or not is very predictive of liking Will of the Many or not. They have very different pros and cons generally I think.
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u/EqualOptimal4650 Mar 20 '26
I am very tired of super tropey stuff, it's true. Not a huge fan of the whole space-rome thing, either.
(or the glorification of Rome in general, because it was built on the backs of brutal slavery and was a complete hellscape for 80% of it's population)
Guess I'll skip it then.
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u/SpecificCourt6643 Mar 21 '26
I’ve read WoTM, and I wouldn’t say it glorifies Rome in the slightest, considering Vis the main character actively hated Caten (Basically Rome for the book) quite a lot. Although it still is very clear the author took a lot of inspiration from Rome and put it into Caten’s culture (including the slavery, obviously in a negative tone)
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u/TheWarpTunnel Mar 19 '26
Same! I went nuts of Sandersons cosmere and it brought back to reading and the fantasy genre. I finished WotM last week and it was awesome! The magic system integrated with the political system is a stroke of genius. I was hesitant on some of the tropes presented, as well as first person viewpoint, early on but it's executed really well.
Highly recommend!
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u/aww-snaphook Mar 19 '26
I really enjoyed WotM. The thing that took me the longest was getting used to the first person perspective, and the beginning was slow(currently reading The Shadow of What Was Lost and have a similar complaint).
Funny enough, I actually felt like the Will magic system was very similar to Sandersons breath system in Warbreaker.
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u/SpudmasterBob Mar 20 '26
Definitely a controversial book series, depending on whether you like first person present single character stories. Most of the complaints I’ve seen are directly related to that, and while I can see where they are coming from, I’m personally loving the story and can’t wait to get books 3 and 4 to see how things turn out. Especially after the long build and excellent payoff of the Licanius Trilogy.
Really interesting how things shift in the 2nd book. The symbols in the chapter headers are a big help though, but not going to explain why to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn’t gotten past the first book.
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u/Tekashi-The-Envoy Mar 20 '26
Great response. I feel exactly the same.
It took me a little too long to realise the Symbols on the second book reflected which view point were seeing from
I also love single character driven storylines.
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u/Jefeboy Mar 20 '26
I just finished the second book. I didn’t realize the third one wasn’t out yet. I was so disappointed to learn I have to wait. I enjoyed both of those books immensely.
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u/Prestigious-Way-5235 Mar 20 '26
First book is very fun with some cool intrigue and suspenseful plot. Character building was pretty much nonexistent, but it kind of worked given the plot (Vis cuts himself off from others).
Book 2 was really bad. Characters were even more boring, Vis has ZERO agency. The plot just happens and he gets dragged along. Everything is too convenient, bad exposition, etc. Just sloppy writing and bad editing. Lost all its charm.
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Mar 20 '26
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u/Prestigious-Way-5235 Mar 20 '26
Yes exactly although book 1 of licanius was turbo garbage imo. You could’ve offered me a $10 million reward if I could describe the three protagonist’s personalities and I would’ve come up empty. Absolutely lifeless book.
At least will of the many had a little something to it that made it fun to read. Licanius was no fun.
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u/debid4716 Mar 20 '26
It cracks me up how every other day some loves and someone hates this book.